Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer in his city council office. Courtesy Faulconer for Mayor,

Faulconer halted the implementation of the plan soon after he took office on March 3 so he could study the issue. The idea, brought about by the city’s switch to a new email system, was criticized by open government advocates.

“My mission is to increase openness and transparency at City Hall, and this is just one of the first steps,” Faulconer said. “I reviewed the policy and believe the public’s right to have access to city documents is worth the additional financial cost that will come with retaining these emails.”

According to the mayor’s office, after the new system went online in January, officials had to decide what to do with the vast number of emails stored in two older systems — one of which is plagued by corrupted data. The original plan was to begin purging the older documents at the end of next week.

The mayor’s office, city IT staff, members of the local tech community and the new email vendor — Microsoft — are working on a way to retain the older emails. New cost estimates to store the old emails are being reviewed, with a majority of the expenses expected to be one-time, according to the mayor’s office.

–City News Service

Faulconer Deletes Plan to Purge City Emails, Cites Public’s Right to Access was last modified: March 18th, 2014 by Christine Huard

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